BY MERLE MONAHAN/CONTRIBUTING WRITER
merlemonah@aol.com

BERLIN—When Betsy Cutright’s family asks her to bring dessert to Christmas dinner, it has to be her lemon-apricot pound cake.

“They all like it,” Cutright said. “I can’t tell you how long I’ve had the recipe, but it has been several years, and they always ask for it.”

Cutright, her son, Neil, his wife, Jennifer, and her two grandchildren will be sharing the holiday meal at her son’s home this year. Sadly, her husband, Butch, has passed away.

“They have more room,” she said. “And that makes it much easier.”

There was a time when Cutright’s mom, dad and all the in-laws alternated having the holiday meal at their homes.

“There are about 35 of us now, though, and although I only had them every fourth year, I just don’t have the room,” she said.

But Cutright loves to cook, and her culinary art will be evident at dinner this holiday season.

“I think I took after my mom,” she said. “At Christmas time, she’d decorate the entire house and she always had some kind of Christmas treat that she’d made for the kids and her customers — she owned her own beauty salon.”

“She was the youngest of 11 children and she had to help out,” Cutright continued. “She could cook some of the best meals, things that my grandparents raised on the farm.”

She said she learned from her mother. A little older than her sister, she’d come home from school and start dinner, so her mother wouldn’t have so much to do when she came in from work.

Cooking is not the only thing Cutright learned from her mother — she too loves decorating for the season. She already has lights in the windows, bright green garlands tied with red ribbons on her porch railings and an 8-foot decorated Christmas tree in her living room.

Most of the tree ornaments were handcrafted by her mother, she said.

NAME: Betsy Worrell Cutright

AGE: 65

OCCUPATION: Retired after 27 years as an executive secretary for the City of Franklin

FAVORITE FOOD: Steak

LEAST FAVORITE FOOD: Liver

WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU REMEMBER COOKING: Scrambled eggs and toast

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR WORST COOKING EXPERIENCE: I once made a cake that I was planning to take to church, but it split right down the middle. As it turned out, I had two cakes that my family had to eat.

ONE INGREDIENT YOU CAN’T COOK WITHOUT AND WHY: Sugar. It brings out the flavor

WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU HAVE LEARNED ABOUT COOKING: Have all of your ingredients assembled before you start cooking

WHO IS THE BEST COOK YOU HAVE EVER KNOWN AND WHY: My mother, Vera Worrell. She was the youngest of 11 children and spent a lot of time with my grandmother in the kitchen. She cooked like my grandmother, and of course, cooked the things that my grandparents raised on the farm. Her fried chicken, corn and butter beans, and lemon pie were the best I’ve ever eaten. And it didn’t take her long to cook it. She had her own beauty salon and could come in from work and have dinner on the table in record time. I don’t know how she did it. Actually, I learned just about everything I know about cooking from her.

IF YOU COULD EAT ONE THING FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD IT BE: Steak

BETSY CUTRIGHT’S RECIPE:

Lemon-Apricot

Pound Cake

Cake Ingredients:

1 box of Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme cake mix

1 cup apricot nectar juice

¾ cup vegetable oil

½ cup sugar

4 eggs

Directions:

Blend all ingredients together, adding one egg at the time. Pour batter into greased tube pan and bake for 1 hour in a

325-degree oven.

While cake is warm, glaze with icing made

with confectioner’s sugar and lemon juice; lemon concentrate works just

as well. Have icing just thin enough to drizzle on cake.